8.
“The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.”
—Oscar Wilde
Barefoot, Elizabeth stepped over the cambric shirt which had dropped from her body onto the floor. She approached the tub while at the same time tying her hair up into a bun so it wouldn’t get wet.
Katie prepared a “bath” for her—an enormous washtub filled with hot water.
Elizabeth asked for some herbs and Katie really went all out—she was very experienced in this area. Boiling four buckets of water, she added three buckets of herbal infusion prepared from dry branches of St. John’s wort, celandine, chamomile, lemon balm, mint and sea-buckthorn berries.
With her entire chest, Elizabeth inhaled the aromatic steam that flowed through the room, pleasantly warming up the nostrils. Her lips became moist when she inclined her head over the tub.
“Marvelous… Just marvelous…” She lowered her hand to test the water, “Isn’t this marvelous?”
Elizabeth stepped into the bath with one leg and let out a slight moan—the water was hotter than what she was used to. She proceeded to place her other leg inside and, letting out another moan, sunk her entire torso into the water. She blissfully closed her eyes, imagining that she was sinking in rose petals, as she used to do in her lavish, snow-white bath in the castle.
There was a knock on the door.
“Yes, Katie! Come in! You’re just so wonderful…” said the Empress with a smile.
“What have you brought me now?”
“Mulled wine, madam.”
“Please don’t call me madam, at least not now, Katie…”
“Very well, then. As you wish, madam. Oops.”
They broke out laughing. Elizabeth picked up the glass of hot wine.
“What will be of me?” she asked, smiling as she took the first sip. “Thank you, Katie. I am completely all right and will manage here alone just fine.”
“Got it,” replied the girl with a nod, and quickly left the room, closing the door so madam wouldn’t be bothered by a cold breeze.
Elizabeth held the glass of mulled wine in one hand and gathered up water in the other to pour over her cold shoulders. She could have sunk in lower, all the way to her chin, but she wanted to bathe her recovering body and slightly strengthened soul slowly and gently. Elizabeth missed her sons. Her heart yearned for them like a bird yearning to get out of a cage, but the cage was so rigid that the bird was only breaking its wings and beak in the uneven match. This barrier was the sense of her dignity, which did not allow the Empress to return home and hand herself in to the Emperor’s mercy. She suffered from insomnia, and seeing the dark circles under his patient’s eyes, the physician promised to prepare a new natural remedy to help her sleep. Let him concoct a sweet mixture for her—it has been so long since she has had a night of untroubled sleep!
“Yes! Come in!” she said in reply to a knock on the door. Oh, that Katie! She must have brought her another glass of mulled wine. Or a cherry infusion with honey…
The door squeaked—a sound that was so familiar to Elizabeth by now, she didn’t even give a start or turn around. Extending her hand out from the tub, she sweetly murmured,
“I’m already slightly drunk from your potion.”
Looking at the chiseled white neck and thick dark hair, fastened at the nape, Daniel interpreted the bather’s command literally: yes, he has brought a potion and now he must place it into the outstretched hand—bare and wet, with impatiently extended fingers. The bather sat with her back towards the door and did not see who came in, but he certainly had eyes. Daniel took a deep breath and quietly approached Elizabeth. He carefully placed the vial into the palm of her hand.
As soon as the medicine was in Elizabeth’s hand, she let out a squeal, turned around with wide-open eyes, and became numb as a statue. Her hands were occupied: one held the vial and the other—the undrunk glass of mulled wine. While she tried to wrap her mind around what was happening, Daniel’s eyes quickly ran over her shoulders and delicate collar bone, which tantalizingly accentuated her long neck.
Her breasts were partially visible, with two firm, pink dots just barely visible through the transparent water.
Daniel closed his eyes. He realized that he has ruined everything: he has lost this woman’s trust, the friendship between them, and his sober-minded discretion. All of this collapsed in a single moment. Now he was no longer facing a patient or a mysterious lady from an alien world, but a woman in flesh and blood—accessible and coveted.
Without letting go of the vial and wineglass, Elizabeth descended into the water all the way to her lips. She saw her doctor’s embarrassment and perturbation, but as strange as it may be, she did not feel shy in front of him. On the contrary, she was possessed by a delightful zeal, hiding a smile beneath her austere tone:
“Daniel, this… isn’t your fault. I thought you were Katie.”
The man’s face was affected by every word she uttered, but he stood there with his eyes closed and, apparently, decided not to open them until the bather dried up and threw on a gown.
“Daniel,” said the Empress, coming to his rescue, “Please turn around, but don’t leave.”
The physician did as she asked and then finally opened his eyes. It was easier to stare into the fogged up mirror, and he let out a sigh.
“For God’s sake, do forgive me.”
“Actually, I enjoyed that incident,” said the Empress, now smiling in the open.
“Daniel, would you mind passing me the towel? It’s on the table.”
The man stepped to the table, took the towel and handed it to the lady.
“Thank you, Daniel.”
He heard her climbing out of the tub, the water splashing, and the timber floor squeaking under her bare feet. Right there, behind his back, something sacramental was taking place: a nude, fragrant woman was waiting for drops of water to trickle down her body to the floor. She was about to wrap herself in a towel and conceal the beauty. Cursing himself and the whole world, Daniel abruptly turned around to face Elizabeth. He did not look at her breasts, waistline, stomach or hips. He looked straight into her eyes.
“I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help myself,” he said, as if talking about an act of torture. “I couldn’t bear it. I wanted to see all of you. Now you can tell me to go away.”
Elizabeth completely forgot that she was the Empress. She was struck by Daniel’s expression and his doomed but determined tone. Her body suddenly seemed sacred to her, and as divinely beautiful as never before. She was being looked at as if she was an idol. She thought that a man like this would never pinch a woman’s butt, grab one of her breasts with a full hand, or attempt to go too far in a thoughtless act of passion. He isn’t like that, this Daniel. He is above vulgar indulgence.
“Will you help me?” asked Elizabeth, surprising even herself, but then she was taken aback by the determination and lack of embarrassment and fear with which the physician approached her, took the towel, and, without removing his candid gaze, began pressing the fabric to her body to absorb the moisture. Elizabeth was so touched by his tenderness that she put her hand on Daniel’s shoulder and involuntarily let her warm palms slide beneath his clothing.
“What are you doing… You’re going to have to cure me of insanity,” she whispered.
“I’m about to go mad, yes…”
But she was still sane, so she took the physician’s handsome face into her hands, leaned over and kissed him on the lips.
At that moment the doctor’s hands unintentionally lingered on her hips, and even the threat of execution would not have been able to stop his fingers. They found her waistline, continued down to her buttocks, and then glided upwards along her spine. Elizabeth was not planning to execute this daredevil, but she decided not to let him lose full control either. With an effort, she bridled her excitation and tore away from his lips.
“This was our dream, Daniel.”
“Of course,” he whispered knowingly.